Preaching and the Land - Luke 16:1-13

If there is a Sunday to look for another text than the lectionary, it might be this Sunday. To the modern mind, this teaching of Jesus is a hard saying.  The conduct of both steward and landowner is foreign and difficult for us.

Here's what we know about the steward and the rich man from cultural expectations and practices (the Fifth Gospel):

• a rich man might very well hire such a steward to oversee property, make loans and settle debts in his absence
• the steward likely was paid a commission, sometimes up to fifty per cent
• the charges against the steward were unclear, simply described as "wasting his goods"
• failure in these matters resulted in imprisonment with the lost income exacted from next-of-kin
• the rich man responded uncharacteristically by simply dismissing the steward
• the steward pursued his plan even more aggressively perhaps because of the unexpected mercy

As for the application of this text to today's hearer, the preacher or teacher will be challenged.  There is an even greater distance between 1st and 21st centuries around this text than perhaps most other New Testament texts.